Uphill by Christina Rossetti Critical Analysis

I was assigned Uphill by Christina Rossetti. I feel that the two most useful methods of interpreting this poem is going to be Analytical and Psychoanalytic methods.

The Analytical method is going to take us down the road of looking that the questions posed to our unnamed answerer as the questions to the meaning of life. If we take this approach the question such as “Does the road wind up-hill all the way? (Rossetti)” can be interpreted as asking if life is going to be difficult if you wish to seek the greatest reward for which later in the poem, we are given the answer “Of labour you shall find the sum. (Rossetti)”.

If we use the Psychoanalytic method, we can begin to dive into what the Author was saying about herself in contrast to the overarching human questioning. We can look at the questions posed as an insight into how she feels or what she may be going through at the time she wrote it. From the questions posed one may read that she was going through a rough patch, maybe dealing with a terminal disease and seeking comfort in her beliefs.

Work cited:

Rossetti, Christina. “Up-Hill by Christina Rossetti.” Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2018. <https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45002/up-hill>.